x posted at
Kautilyan
The only thing close to a clear political demand from Al Qaeda before 9/11 that the US could easily address was that we remove our military presence from Saudi Arabia. Starting with the Persian Gulf war in 1991 to April 2003, the U.S. had about 5000 troops stationed in the country as part of the ongoing operations against Iraq.
This is how CNN covered our decision to pull out of Saudi Arabia:
Exiled Saudi Osama bin Laden has cited the presence of U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia as a core grievance in his self-proclaimed holy war against the United States. Fifteen of the 19 September 11 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia, according to the U.S. government.
In addition, anti-American and pro-bin Laden sentiment has been strong in some parts of the kingdom, home of the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina.
The BBC's coverage was similar:
But our correspondent says the US troops have become a potent symbol of Washington's role in the region, and many Saudis see them as proof of the country's subservience to America.
Saudi Arabia is home to some of Islam's holiest sites and the deployment of US forces there was seen as a historic betrayal by many Islamists, notably Osama Bin Laden.
Bin Laden used American presence to justify anti-US attacks
It is one of the main reasons given by the Saudi-born dissident - blamed by Washington for the 11 September attacks - to justify violence against the United States and its allies.
So its clear that the only meaningful pre-9/11 political objective of Al Qaeda has already been satisified. If AQ's terrorism is truly about achieving political ends then we have already appeased them as much as we possibly could. The truth is that AQ's brand of terrorism is not like terrorism in Ireland or Sri Lanka or even today in Iraq where there are clear political objectives and where negotiations can ensue. I am certainly no expert on terrorism and its causes, but AQ is clearly not about achieving some specific set of political objectives it is much more akin to a cult or a group with a "fantasy ideology". To use the vocabulary of "appeasement" simply seems to be putting the wrong lens on the issue.
But, if we're going to use it, lets be clear, the US pretty much used up the all the "appeasement" there was in pulling out of Saudi Arabia.